My Fallen Angel: Ghosts of a Detective's Past
by Asiera
Summary: "It's all really a matter of Life and Death, Mr. Yagami. Things just get complicated when you're stuck somewhere in between. You wanted a second chance and now you got it. If I were you, I wouldn't waste it..." L's past is darker then Light ever imagined.
1. Introduction

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note in any way shape or form.

Full Summery: The last thought the runs through Light's mind before he is completly consumed by Kira is the aching desire to have a second chance; to save L. Light gets his wish, but it's nothing like he expected. Instead of reliving the past few months, Light is sent years back into the past and comes face to face with a seven year old L who is in desperate need of a guardian angel.

Led on by an angelic looking woman who calls herself a "God of Life", he is told that this is his one and only chance to save the eclectic detective. Yet things aren't nearly that simple, for as Light is quick to realize, he's caught between the doors of life and death; heaven and hell, this tricky position rendering him something akin to a mere ghost in L's world.

Unsure if he can even save his own soul, Light sets out to do the impossible task of rewriting history and saving the man he is destined to one day murder.

Part two of a three part saga in which L and Light struggle against all odds to see the world from the same side of the battlefield and unlock the icy bindings the hold tightly to their frozen hearts. Can they save each other in every meaning of the word or will the ground run red with the blood of the looser in this deadly game.

AN: If you can't guess it from the title or the above summery, this is the second story in a series. I highly recomend that you read **Part One: _An Ending_****** first. It's only two chapters so it won't kill you, you'll understand what's going on here better, and, above all, you'll enjoy it.

Rated **M** for language, sexual themes, and dark qualities.

**My Fallen Angel **

**Part II: _Ghosts of a Detective's Past_**

**Introduction**

I wasn't sure how long I stood rigidly there, staring at the small child in front of me. None of this made any sense! Just moments ago I had been holding the cold stiff body of of the World's Greatest Detective in my shaking arms, and now I was standing in the middle of some strange street that I'd never laid eyes on before, gazing at what was undeniably a much younger version of the man I had just murdered. _What the __**hell**__ is going on?_

As if the young boy had heard my panicked thoughts or felt my eyes boring into him (the second one being highly more likely), he suddenly jerked his messy haired head up and focused those oh so familiar gray eyes on mine.

As our gazes melded, I felt an almost unbearable electric current of guilt shoot through my body forcing me to let out in a gasp the breath I hadn't known I'd been holding. His eyes were not the same shielded closed off barriers that the detective usually wore. They were open, revealing sorrow, pain, and fear. The same as the dying eyes I had looked into last night, though not nearly as intensely so—which was a good thing, I don't think I could have remained standing if I had to look at those pleading terrified eyes again.

It was all I could do to just remain there, motionless and numb, my vision fixated on the child before me. It seemed that my situation was mirrored by the "mini" L and if he was anything like the L I knew, he was also trying to get his "brilliant" mind to make some logical sense of this insane situation.

No such luck on my side I'm afraid.

I nearly jumped when the large wooden front door opened again and a young woman looking to be in her early twenties emerged. She was tall, almost unhealthily slender, and very pale with dark circles under her tired distant looking eyes. Her dark messy hair was pulled back into a hastily done waist length braid. I realized with a jolt that she looked uncannily like L. A sister or maybe... his mother? Somehow imaging L with a family, besides his caretaker Watari was hard if not impossible, yet here was the irrefutable proof.

...it's amazing how my mind will cling to logic even in situations where all forms of that vital concept have vanished.

Once the small boy had been made aware of the woman's presence he turned quickly to her and began tugging at her skirt, glancing fearfully in my direction. From my position across the street I could just make out his quiet worried words of, "Mother, what is _that_?"

"_That_?" I thought, more confused than I was before—and believe me that's a hard level of befuddlement to achieve.

The puzzled looking woman directed her gaze in my general direction, but her dark eyes never focused on me. After a moment of looking for something she could not locate, she turned her attention back to whom I could barely force myself to believe was her son who still clung to the hem of her black miniskirt. "L there's nothing there."

Another sentence I couldn't wrap my mind around. I was standing right here in plain sight. How could she not notice me?

The apparently blind woman pushed her son forward gently so he was forced to release her skirt, the soft shove causing the scraggly looking boy to stumble, caught off guard because his gray eyes were still glued to my stiff form. The boy didn't seem to get the hint, staying rooted to their front porch.

The tired looking girl sighed. "L, you are going to be late for the bus again. Your father's not going to be happy if he finds out I had to drive you again..."

Her simple words snapped his beautiful gray eyes away from our staring contest and, as if his mother had threatened to punish him severely, caused him to rocket towards the corner of the block where apparently the large yellow vehicle would be picking up its young cargo.

At this point, nothing in this Godforsaken universe made one iota of sense to me. L should be dead, _I_ should be dead for killing him. At the very least I should be in the heart of the cold metal building serving as the Task Force Headquarters for the Kira investigation, located in the middle of a harshly storming Japan. But here I was, standing cluelessly in a paved sunny street in the center of a quaint neighborhood that looked like something out of an English fairy tale complete with red and golden autumn leaves swirling illogically around me.

If you haven't already guessed it, let me spell it out for you: I _Hate_ feeling lost and as I saw a much younger version of the man's whose shaking naked body I'd held in my arms and splashed with my hot tears only minutes ago, running farther away from me, well, I might as well have been the picture under the definition of that hopeless state of being in the dictionary, or at the very least, a star on the very popular yet ludicrous T.V. series.

I wanted to scream but I didn't have the time. I was desperately trying to cling to something, _anything _familiar in this chaotic storm of strangers, and although he wasn't anything like I remembered him to be, that running messy haired boy looking worriedly back over his shoulders at me was the last remnant of familiarness I had left.

I sprinted across the street after him.

As it turns out, being thrust into a universe constructed around the concept of illogical reasoning does a number on one's own sense of logic—who would have guessed it? Even I was no exception, this rathAer unpleasant fact removing from my brain one of the first important lessons that is drilled into every child at a very young age.

I, the "brilliant" Light Yagami raced across the street without looking.

I felt I was on a level somewhere near Matsuda's as I heard the suddenly overpowering sound of the roaring engine belonging to the school bus. A _huge yellow_ bus! You'd think I could have at least noticed _that_!

I barely had time to wonder why the vehicle hadn't honked, swerved, or made any other noticeable attempt to avoid the reckless teen who had just run directly before its path before it slammed into me—correction, _**through**_ me.

I was left standing in the middle of the asphalt eyes glued shut, hands held stupidly in front of me in a feeble attempt to protect my completely unscathed body as the bus continued unperturbed to the stop. The only other person who seemed even slightly as stupefied as I was, was the already wide eyed young L.

Still in utter shock, I looked down at my right hand. Beams of pale sun light and dappled shade could be seen filtering through its shadowy transparent form, rivets of dark blood flowing down the stained palm and dripping from the twisted claws that adorned each of my fingertips to the ground below.

I think I did start screaming at that point.

**~_My __Fallen Angel_~**

AN: Hope you enjoyed. If you want more faster then you've got to review. I've go two other stories going right now and I'm updating depending on amout and quality of reviews.

Thanks for reading,

-Asiera


	2. A Matter of Life and Death

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, anime or manga.

AN: Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers, I really do love hearing from you; it's how I get inspired. Hope you enjoy the latest update.

**My Fallen Angel **

**Part II: _Ghosts of a Detective's Past_**

**Chapter I**

**A Matter of Life and Death**

Finally, when my racing heart had returned to a somewhat normal speed, I was able to pull my eyes away from the twisted demonic hand that was attached to my arm. The first thing I realized was that both L and the crazed yellow school bus were gone. As my gaze darted around the empty street and the suddenly cold looking houses that lined it, I felt an aching hole appear in the pit of my stomach—I don't think I'd ever felt so alone; I didn't even have Kira's silky whispers to fill the void.

Again I stared down in disbelief at the misshapen appendage serving as my right hand. A quick glance to my left told me that my other hand was still as human as ever. Almost frantically I pulled up my right sleeve and discovered with dismay that the hard red flesh that gloved my hand extended all the way up my right arm to my elbow, where there was a abrupt, and rather drastic change back into human flesh. It was creepy to say the least, and down right horrifying if referred to accurately.

**"Hey, you!"**

I jumped and started to look around before I realized that such a call could not be directed at me. Just like L's mother and the school bus driver, whoever had just yelled out probably could not see me. _But then...how could L?_ I groaned. For the first time in my life—or whatever this was—thinking made my head hurt. I leaned forward, holding my throbbing cranium in my hands but instantly recoiled from the scaly feel of my deformed sharp fingers.

**"Didn't you mother ever tell you that it's dangerous to play in the street?"**

_There's no one else crazy enough to be sitting in the middle of the road, and that means that __someone else here can see me! _This time I did jerk to my feet, my eyes frantically scanning the surrounding area for the source of the sound, yet my search proved to be in vain. Despite my incessant scanning of the street, it proved to be as vacant as it had been a few minutes ago.

I was about to give up and return to the useless pondering of my impossible situation ,when a familiar scent filled my nostrils. I whipped around and blinked as the nearly snow white silky petal of a cherry blossom brushed against my face. The first of the pink-tinged unseasonal snow flakes was followed by many more, and for a second I believed I was walking along the cobblestone path that led up to entrance of To-Oh University—the first place I had seen L's face.

My brown eyes followed the airily floating petals' paths until they settled on the lower boughs of an oak tree. Instantly, my mind informed me that cherry blossoms only appeared in the spring time and judging by all the browns and golds around me, it was late fall. Not to mention the fact that there is no season in which an oak tree will sprout cherry blossoms.

As it turns out the seemingly "magical flowers" were not coming from out of season blooms but seemed to be falling off the kimono of a grinning young woman sitting among the branches of the nearly barren oak tree.

**"Good evening ,Yagami-san. I've been waiting for you."**

I was only able to stare dumb struck at the strange sight before me. Her words had the same unearthly nature that Ryuk's did, allowing them to seemingly shoot straight through the human who heard them; however, even in this crazy world, you could not have convinced me that she was a Shinigami.

The woman perched happily above me looked almost completely human. She had flowing, icy blond hair that seemed to be long enough to reach down to her bare feet had she been standing. As I stated earlier, she was clothed in a full length white kimono that was decorated with moving cherry blossoms which seemed to have the ability to jump from the shimmering fabric into the air at the slightest breeze, and her face was covered by a feathered mask which completely concealed her upper features, save her eyes. Besides her bizarre outfit, the only things non-human about her were the giant pair of pure white, swallow shaped wings that sprung from her shoulder blades and her piercing bright green eyes that seemed to almost glow like a cat's would at night. If I had to describe her in one word, I would have chosen _angel_.

I'm guessing that the woman must have noticed my blatant stare because she started chuckling quietly. **"Come now, Yagami-san, I would have expected you to be accustomed to Other-Worldlies by now, what with your close affiliation to the Shinigami, Ryuk."**

My suddenly hoarse voice finally returned. "W-what are you?" I asked cautiously, my steps equally as apprehensive as I came to stand near the base of the tree. "What's going on? How did I get here? Why is L—" Even though my mind was overflowing with questions, she stopped me with a single upheld digit.

**"I know you have thousands of questions ,Yagami-san, but I'm afraid you must answer most of them for yourself."**

The prospect of having to stumble blindly onward through this confusing world brought up such strong negative emotions, that they must have shown on my face.

The woman before me smiled. **"Not to worry, Yagami-san, I will tell you enough so that you are able to navigate through this puzzle and accomplish your desired goal."**

_Desired goal?_ I was unsure what she could mean by that. The only thing I wanted to do was to stop myself from murdering the only person I could ever love and prevent Kira from taking control of me. I failed to see how my current predicament could help solve either of those problems.

**"First things first. I believe introductions are in order."**Effortlessly, the woman jumped down from the tree branch, and I quickly discovered that she was taller than me, a feat I'm sure was accomplished by the rather extravagant wooden platform heels that adorned her feet. **"My name is Eve, I am a Inochinigami—a God of Life—and it just so happens,"** she continued smoothly, pulling out a white note book which was exactly the same size and thickness as a certain black one that I was more than familiar with, **"that your name has been written down in my Life Note."**

To prove this, Eve opened the book and held it out for me to observe. Sure enough, at the top of one of the earlier pristine pages, was the name _"Light Yagami" _written in silver spindly writing. Underneath my name was a date and time _"December Thirteenth ,1985. 7:30 AM"_ as well as a location, _"23 Crimson Lane, Winchester England". _

"What does that mean?" I questioned warily.

**"It means, you get your second chance, Yagami-san. You get the opportunity to save L."**

My breathing quickened. If I could save L, then everything would be okay again. My life would return to normal, and... My happy thoughts screeched to a halt as the date and location really registered in my overworked mind. _1985...that's one year before I was born. If a "Life Note" works like a Death Note, the date and time written would be the time at which the note book would take effect. _My eyes widened. _If it's 1985, that would explain L's young age! Also, L told me that he was born and raised in the UK. Assuming that that was actually true, then..._ I gasped. _Then that means I somehow traveled back over 19 years and across several continents!_

Eve stayed silent, as if she could actually watch my thoughts rush though my mind. Once I had come to my conclusion, she spoke. **"I assume you understand the implications, Yagami-san."**

"No," I said shaking my head. "I understand that you want me to believe that you transported me back to 1985 in England, but I don't understand why you did it, nor why no one but you and L can see me, and why this arm is attached to me." I was almost yelling at this point as I waved the affected limb in front of her calm masked face, "or how any of this nonsense is going to help me save L!"

Eve sighed. **"Yagami-san, you were not specific about when you wanted to save L. As I recall, your dying wish was simply an unyielding desire **_**to**_** save him."**

"Yes, to save him from Kira, from me! Not when—" suddenly I paused. "My 'dying wish'?" I asked in a unsure manner.

She grinned almost wickedly. **"Yes Yagami-san, your **_**dying**_** wish. You see, this whole ****situation is really just a matter of Life and Death, Light and Darkness, Good and Evil. Things just get complicated when you're stuck somewhere in between those two doors, such as you are right now."**

She pointed a long nailed finger at my chest. **"Light Yagami is dead. He was murdered by Kira the same night that L was. However, Light Yagami's body is still living with Kira as its soul residence, so Light Yagami's spirit is still bound to this this world. That is why no one else who is currently living can see you, because technically, you are not among the living. L can see you, because he is the only reason for your spirit to exist at all. Your souls are so strongly linked that even in this half-death he can see you."**

Her finger left my chest and moved to my distorted appendage. **"As to your arm. Even in this form you cannot fully escape the demon that is Kira, because you created him. He was wrought by the sins you committed with your right hand, etched into your soul by the blood of the thousands of humans you murdered, and thus, he is just as much a part of you as your right arm."**

My breath hitched in my throat. Her words sounded absolutely absurd, yet they resonated deep within what she had dubbed my soul, with such truth that I could not deny them. Still, there was one piece that didn't fit into the puzzle. _Why here? Why 1985 and not 2004?_

"I-I still don't understand. W-why send me back here? You said the reason you gave me a second chance was so that I could save him. I can't do that if I'm stuck back here!"

Eve's cold green eyes took on an almost comforting sad warmth. **"Yagami-san, I did not send you back a few hours, days, or months because you could not have defeated Kira. Even if I had sent you back to that fateful day you picked up the Death Note, so that you might have prevented it, you would not have been able to fight him off. As I said, he is part of you now, and you will never be able to rid yourself of him. Besides, there cannot be two Light Yagami's at once."**

My mind closed down. _No!_ There was no way that I could just give up! "No!" I yelled in defiance. "Are you saying that no matter what, I can't defeat Kira, and therefore no matter what, L is going to die! No! I won't let that happen!" This was unacceptable. I would save L—I had to. "Send me back there, let me try!" It was as close to begging as I thought I would ever get. "No matter what happens, it would be more useful than me baby sitting a six year old L!"

Whereas before the woman claiming to be a God of Life had remained calm through my emotional outbursts, it seemed something that I'd just said had rubbed her feathers the wrong way. In an instant she went from calm to livid. **"Light Yagami, for all I care I could have just let you die hopelessly along with your detective!" **she yelled, causing a huge wind to pick up out of nowhere, swirling the fallen leaves along with her discarded cherry blossoms, whipping them into the air. The sheer force of her display was greater than anything Ryuk had ever attempted and even had the power to force me to my knees.** "I gave you a second chance, giving up precious years of my life so you could have it, and now you mock me by requesting that I allow you to throw away this newly given life in just as brash a manner as you wasted your old one?"** Her shriek was almost akin to that of a bird and caused me to cover my ears. The gesture was useless however, because her high pitched words easily cut through my see-through fingers.

Seeing my very apparent withdrawal from her sharp cries seemed only to anger the God of Life more. **"Look well, Light Yagami! Look this poor child in the eyes, and tell **_**him**_** that he doesn't need to be saved!" **

With those last haunting words, Eve flashed open her curved white wings, and the scene before me melted and shifted until an entirely new picture was visible. Held within the frame of Eve's gigantic white primary feathers was a vision of the house I had just seen L emerge from, but it looked nothing like it had just minutes ago. The entire structure was on fire, black smoke billowing out of the upper windows, creating horrific black shadows against the full moon. Nightmarish shadows flitted across the kitchen windows until suddenly, a violent wash of red covered its entirety, accompanied by an earsplitting scream.

Suddenly the front door was thrust open, and a bruised, bloodstained, and soot covered L stumbled out, tears running down his terrified face. He was coughing vehemently from the smoke but was managing to choke out strangled cries for help.

Lost in the reality of the vision, I sprinted forwards shouting his name. But just as my hand was about to close around his, two huge red hands reached out from the fiery doorway and clasped the boy around his thin shoulders, yanking him mercilessly back into the inferno as he let out a terror filled scream.

Before I could do anything else but yell his name again the vision faded ,and I was left kneeling before the perfectly kept house that I had just seen broken and ablaze, hot tears running down my face, my demonic right hand sprawled against the the cool wood of the door I'd just seen L dragged through. A single pink cherry blossom drifted down through the air and came to rest on my distorted arm. As it touched my hardened skin, Eve's cool voice echoed through my mind.

_**"I gave you your second chance, Yagami-san. If I were you, I wouldn't waste it."**_

_**...My Fallen Angel...**_

AN: As to the Japanese for for God of Life, I just kinda guessed. I know that "shi" is "death", "kami" is "god", and "inochi" is "life". For "God of Death" they just added a "ni" to the end of "shi" and dropped the "k" in "kami" while replacing it with a "g". So therefore, I just did the same for "God of Life" except replacing "shi" with "inochi", hence "Inochinigami". If anyone actually knows how to write it, please PM me.

Please review, like I said I _love _hearing from you.


	3. First Haunting: The Ouija Board

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any rights to Death Note; not anime, nor manga, nor movies, nor novels. I own none of it. Though I have bought every sort of Death Note related book, DVD, and paraphernalia that I've come across. Only regretted it once and that was the book _Death Note: L Change the World_ written by "M." Seriously, I've read better fan fics! Wait...did I just demean myself...?

**AN:** Sorry for the inexcusably long wait. My life is chaotic as ever and free time just has a way of slipping though my fingers or otherwise disappearing on me. If only for the reason of preventing any further delays, I'm going to skip the excuses and get right to the writing. Enjoy.

**My Fallen Angel **

**Part II: _Ghosts of a Detective's Past_**

**Chapter II**

**First Haunting: The Ouija Board**

After I had forced my ragged breathing down to a somewhat normal rhythm, I stood. A quick glance around me showed that the Inoichinigami was indeed gone; vanished into thin air along with her procession of cherry blossoms.

_Guess I'm on my own then_, I though bitterly.

Not that I had a good starting point beneath my ghostly feet or had any clear idea of where to go from here. Her words were less than helpful, as not much of anything the strange creature had said made sense.

After contemplating my situation for a good twenty minutes from L's cold front steps, I gave up. Instead of painstakingly trying to make the puzzle pieces of insanity fit into the normal logic of the universe, I decided to "just go with it." I mean there wasn't really much else I could do, right?

At first I though of just waiting on by the front door until L came home from school and start my investigation there, but uncertainty turns even someone like me into a highly impatient individual.

I sighed. _Well, there can't be that many schools around here for kids his age and I doubt it's more than a few blocks from here._ But even for a registered genius like me, that information alone would not be enough to locate the young L's school. _And actually, knowing L, he probably goes to some ritzy private school. ...Do private schools in England have buses?_

My slightly red-tinged eyes glanced up to the house L had emerged from about 45 minutes ago. _There are probably some documents in there from his school. From those I could figure out exactly where to go._

Cautiously I approached the door, almost reaching it before my feet stopped moving. _What am I going to do? Knock? _If no one but L could see me, it stood to reason that they wouldn't be able to hear me either. _In fact, knocking may not even be possible. What if my hand just goes through the door like with the bus?_ Suddenly my thoughts froze midstream. _I wonder..._

Slowly, as if expecting some sort of immediate and possibly painful repercussions, I extended my transparent left hand out towards the door. At the last moment I hesitated, but then, realizing how stupid such trepidation was at this point, pushed my fingers up to and then through the wooden door.

It looked a lot weirder than it felt. In fact, the only odd sensation I was getting as I moved my arm through the solid object was a slight tingling sensation akin to what one feels after their foot falls asleep where the door material was meshing with my arm.

Suddenly, remembering all the Sci-Fi Sayu and I used to watch—namely the American show, _"Fringe"_—in which people ended up stuck in walls, I quickly propelled the rest of my body through the shut door.

Once through, I took a moment to look back at the solid substance I'd just walked through and ponder the bizarreness of it all; but only for a second. I had more important things to worry about. More important than phasing through a door? Yeah well, it sounded even weirder at the time—believe me.

Directing my nervous gaze around me, the first thing I noticed was how disorganized and messy everything was. Wrappers and various other trash was strewn about the floor, there was a layer of dust and dirt covering most, if not all, of the exposed surfaces in the dimly lit house, and the whole area smelt of cigarette smoke and alcohol mixed with a musty mold-like sent.

Despite the fact that I was apparently "dead," as the Inoichinigami had said, I was still ironically required to breath and thus was submitted to this horrible attack on my olfactory system.

This was nothing like what I had expected L's childhood environment to be like. In fact, this "home" didn't seem compatible for supporting _anyone_ living in it, let alone a growing child.

I proceeded cautiously from the entrance way into the living room, trying to avoid stepping on the various items forming the cluttered mess throughout the walkway. I eventually gave up this endeavor however, because it seemed that even if I ran into something, I'd just pass harmlessly though it, not to mention that the task of avoiding all the trash was impossible. Once I'd reached the living room I discovered that it was even worse than the entrance way; now joining the scattered rubbish was a collection of numerous discarded alcoholic beverage containers, ranging from beer, to whiskey, to almost empty wine bottles. However, this mess was nothing compared to the horror and disgust I felt as my crimson tinged eyes fell upon the house's only current living occupant.

L's mother was laying sprawled out on the weathered couch a dazed expression covering her features, gray eyes half-lidded, staring emotionlessly at the ceiling. At first I was under the impression that she was dead, but the quick rise and fall of her chest coupled with the almost empty syringe laying discarded on the cushion next to her quickly led me to the correct conclusion.

_She's high?_

Still unable to make myself believe that this was indeed what L's life had been like 18 years ago, I backed out of the room until once again felt that odd tingeing sensation on my back, signaling that I had reached a solid object. Though this time, the experience felt different. The tingling was stronger, and, whereas I had gone straight though the door without any opposition, I now felt as though I were moving though a very viscus liquid. Turning away from the disturbing sight before me to the object my back was slowly passing through, revealed that it was the side of a staircase leading up to the second floor.

Something inside me told me that L's room was up there. I suppose saying it was a sixth sense at this point would just be too cliché, so I'll just attribute it to my past knowledge of the usual location of children's rooms in houses. However, I can't deny that I felt sort of an electric charge as I approached the base of the stairs.

Not quite sure whether I'd end up walking up the stairs or through them, I placed my right foot on the bottom step. I was pleased to find that my foot did not sink through the wooden boards and I was able to continue upwards. Though, at the same time, I was disappointed to find that there didn't seem to be any logic in the selective nature of my body's intangibility.

I would eventually get used to such occurrences...but not just yet, and certainly not in time for me to discover that for some odd reason, my hand reacted to L's door as though it were completely solid. Bewildered by this current turn of events but not at so much of a loss that I couldn't recall how to operate a door nob, I entered the young detective's room.

The immediate impression I got from L's room was that it was icy cold but that it smelt a hell of a lot better than the rest of the house. I quickly became aware that both conditions could be blamed on the wide open western facing window allowing the chilly autumn wind to blow in. The next thing that was brought to my attention was that the room was uncannily clean. But the lack of mess wasn't from any sort of neatness—a trait which I doubted L possessed—but from the absence of any sort of objects to make a mess with.

The room was so barren and empty that I was beginning to think that perhaps it was just an empty guest room. Then I saw the familiar baggy jeans and white T-shirts hanging out of the drawers of a nearby dresser.

I slowly made my way over to the haphazardly put away items of clothing and hesitantly reached out for the nearest long sleeved white T-shirt with my left hand—I didn't like using my deformed right hand more than I had to and, as it always seemed to be covered in the stomach churning continually flowing blood, and I thought it best to keep it away from any item that could possible be stained. Oddly enough, like the door to this room, my left hand did not phase through the cloth.

_Huh, maybe it's for the same reason L can see me. Perhaps the only things I can touch are L and the objects closely associated with him... _

Before I had even had time to consider my actions, I lifted the white cloth I was holding up to my face and inhaled deeply. The familiar scent had an over powering effect on me, leaving no doubt in my mind that this was where L lived.

Somewhat embarrassed by my sentimental actions, I quickly shoved the shirt back into the drawer with all its wrinkled clones and, remembering why I'd entered the house in the first place, began to search for some sort of record that would reveal what school he went to and its location. Unfortunately, as I stated earlier, besides the telltale clothing, I could find nothing that signified that this space was lived in—even the closet was basically empty except for a few spare blankets and other bedding. On a hunch, or perhaps a last ditch effort, I glanced under the small disheveled bed, trying not to think of the last time I'd seen L in one, as he'd been dead. It was as if I'd suddenly hit the jackpot. It seemed that L had stuffed everything from books to food underneath his bed frame. It was as if he was trying to conceal it from anyone snooping around because the entire stash was hidden by a ring of pillows and blankets stuffed around the base of the bed.

Deciding to try and discover the reasons behind this odd horde later, I began searching for anything pertaining to his school. What I found left me dumbstruck.

All L's graded school papers seemed to imply that L, the World's Greatest Detective, the only person intelligent enough to out smart me, was barely passing! After the shock of seeing such poor grades on L's paper's had passed, curiosity got the better of me, and I glanced at the hastily scrawled name at the top left corner of the page I was holding.

The name that I had been searching for all my life; desperate to obtain so that I could end the sleuth's very existence, was now presented to me in the most absurd way it could have been. And even now that I had it, the desire to kill L had disappeared, almost as if it had never been mine to begin with—only belonging to Kira.

"L Lawliet..." I whispered quietly. "So your name really was L?" I felt a deep sadness grip me as the thoughts of the L I knew drifted into my mind. _How could I have been so stupid! How could I have let this happen, have let L die?_

Refusing to let thetears welling in my eyes to overflow, I set aside the signed history test graded at a 72 and began looking through the stack of papers for anything marked with the address or name of L's school.

After only a few more moments of looking I happened upon an envelope containing L's shotty report card. The return address on the envelope told me everything I needed to know...well, except exactly _how_ to get there , but I was fairly certain that Japan's top student could figure something so trivial out.

Street address stored permanently away in my photographic memory, I left L's house and began to make my way towards Winchester Elementary.

_~My Fallen Angel~_

As it turned out, finding Winchester Elementary...was not nearly as easy as I'd first thought. I spent a good two hours walking around neighborhood after neighborhood before finally arriving at something that could be referred to as a main street. This small roadway happened to have a city bus stop on it. Thankfully, the stop had a vague map which described its route. From this I was able to correctly identify the location of L's elementary school, however, I was not looking forward to finding my way back...

After I'd finally figured out exactly where the school was located, it took me an additional twenty minutes to reach it. And by the time I was standing on the front steps, I heard the sheer sound of the lunch bell echo across the campus, unleashing an insane amount of running shouting little children from the confinement of their various class rooms. It was only at this point, as I saw the vast amount of kids running wildly around the school grounds, that I realized how impossible of a task I'd set up for myself.

_How the hell am I supposed to find L among all these kids?_

Disheartened, but my no means ready to give up and try to find my way back to the future detective's house, I began the thankless task of meandering among the bobbing mass of students, hopping to catch a glimpse of the spiky unruly hair I'd become so familiar with.

Suddenly, I began to experience the same sort of electric sensation I'd felt in L's room, only this time it was much fainter. Deciding it was in my best interest to follow this "L-sense," as I was now calling it, I began playing a sort of "hot and cold" game with it.

Miraculously, the technique worked. After a short time I came upon a more deserted section of an outdoor picnic area where I saw the seven year old L sitting alone at one of the tables. The young boy was picking though the most horribly put together packed lunch I'd ever seen. It consisted of several packets of salt, two moldy pieces of bread, something that looked like it used to be some form of leafy vegetable, a can of Dr. Pepper, and two packages of honey.

L made a sort of disappointed sigh that sounded something like the mew of a sick kitten. He then pulled both of he knees towards his chest pulling the honey packets and the can of soda towards him as well.

It was all I could do to just stand there in a pose very reminiscent to how I must have looked when I first saw him this morning. Now that I'd found him, what was I supposed to do? Just go up to him and say, "hi?" My current disfigured form of existence aside, the last time I'd seen him, he'd been dying in my arms because of my horrendous actions. Even though he didn't remember what I did—as it hadn't happened yet—and he didn't even know who I was, how could I face him after everything that had transpired between us?

The sounds of approaching footsteps and scathing laughter pulled me back to this warped reality. A group of five sneering children were unmistakably approaching L's table. Sensing that things were about to get ugly I moved closer, but kept out of L's direct line of sight for the time being.

The leader of the group of what was undoubtedly grade school bullies smacked his pudgy fist down on the metal surface of the table, his actions causing L to jump.

"Hey Lawliet." He glanced down at the pile of inedible food L had shoved to the edge of the table. "Looks like your mom still doesn't know how pack a lunch to save her life. I mean sheesh," scoffed the seven year old, holding up the baggy of unidentifiable green mush, "how stupid do you have to be to think this junk is food?"

"I guess we know where he got his tiny brain from," pipped up a brunette with pig tails who was standing slightly behind the blond ringleader.

Her comment sent the group into sickening guffaws that started my blood boiling. Why was it, that no matter where you went in life, you inevitably found some stupid jerk with an inferiority complex that he dealt with by picking on others, accompanied by a group of mindless followers who were either too scared or too dense to stand up to him?

"Maybe you should just eat that crap and keel over," added a tall kid with glasses. "You would sure save everyone, including yourself, a lot of trouble."

More grating laughter. Right now I really wished that I wasn't a "ghost" so I could give these little brats the what for. Unfortunately...it didn't seem like that was happening any time soon.

L did his best to hide his grimace. "Hello, Andrew, Missy, Ryan, Danny, Gracie... What do you want today," L mumbled to his hands which were clasped tightly around his knees.

"What was that?" sneered a black haired boy, leaning as though to try and catch L's quiet words. "You know if you talked clearer, people might actually understand what you're saying. Not that we'd _want_ to."

I swear, if I heard any more of their despicable giggles, I was going to strangle them; ghost or not.

"Come on guys," pleaded the last of the five bullies; a pretty looking blond girl who was obviously no stranger to the popularity game, "Miss Evan's said we had to be _nice_ to L." She put on a staged pout. "Andrew, you said we were going to give him a chance. That's why I brought this game after all."

"Heh, you're right Missy. Show him what we brought," replied the group's leader, apparently called Andrew.

For someone like me, who's worn dozens of different masks and prided myself in my ability to charm anyone into doing exactly what I wanted them to, I could tell that this girl, merely an amateur at the manipulating game, had no intention of playing nice. She was just as involved and amused by this bullying as the other four.

L didn't seemed convinced either, as he had more tightly pulled his knees towards his chest.

The grinning Missy then produced a large rectangular box from her bag, out of which she pulled something I never would have guessed such a prissy looking girl would have: an Ouija Board. _Then again, Misa was into more occult things than a goth and she was probably the most cutesy girl I've ever met._

L eyed the sinister looking item nervously as Missy placed it before him and the five children gathered eagerly around it, the bespectacled and black-haired boy each placing a hand on L's shoulders to keep him from running.

As soon as their hands touched the white haired fabric of his shoulders, L started to almost panic and tried to pull away. When the movement wasn't successful, he just curled in on himself and stated shaking.

Seeing L like this, so scared and so helpless, left me completely frozen. The terrible memories of L as he'd turned away from me, so broken, flooded my consciousness. _L shouldn't look like that!_

While I was struggling to keep from losing it and doing something stupid, the group of trouble makers had finally managed to get L to put his hand over the slider. And when I say "managed," I mean they were holding his hand to the device under theirs. The only child who wasn't touching the object—which served as a central piece in countless horror films—was the other girl in their gang, who, by default, must've been called Gracie. She was holding a pen and note pad, her job obviously being to write down whatever the "spirits" said.

"Okay, Lawliet, ready to get started?" asked the sneering Andrew.

"Come on," crooned Missy in mock friendliness, "this is gonna be fun."

L's face made it blatantly apparent that he was having anything but fun as the slider started to move under his hands."

"Oh, my gosh!" exclaimed Gracie. "You guys actually got one!"

"Go on, ask it what it want's, Lawliet," prodded the black-haired boy, both with his words and the hand on L's shoulder.

Squeezing his eyes shut, L obeyed in a humiliated voice. "Wh-what do you want...?"

The board moved to a single letter: L.

"L!" screeched Missy, her shock so fake it was worthy of appearing in a B-rated horror film.

"Oh yeah?" Andrew asked bemusedly. "Well what are you gonna do to the little runt once you get him, eh?"

The board again started to move, the children all reading the proscribed words out loud despite it being Gracie's allotted job to do so.

_'I-Space'_

"I"

_'A-M-Space'_

"Am."

'_G-O-I-N-G-Space'_

"Going."

_'T-O-Space'_

"I am going to," the children's voices were rising in excitement.

_'K-I-L-L'_

"Kill!" they practically screamed.

At this point I'd had it with their twisted joke. Closing the distance between myself and the huddled group in a faster time than I thought was humanly possible, I leaned over the boy I was now determined to protect and placed my hand over the sliding indicator. My transparent fingers slid through the other children's as if they weren't there, but settled solidly on L's pale ones. The boy jumped and stared up at me with terror filled eyes as I stopped the cursor from reaching the intended letter: L. But I didn't have time to worry about that. These kid's had got their foolish wish of summoning a vengeful ghost, and I wasn't about to disappoint.

The bullies' eyes widened as the cursor began to move against their will, spelling out a message they had never intended it to. No longer reading out loud, their bulging eyes followed every twitch of the indicator.

_'A-N-Y-O-N-E-Space-W-H-O-Space-H-U-R-T-S-Space-L'_

Missy screamed and released the cursor, jumping away from the now terrifying board. Following her lead, the three boys let go as well. Every single one of them backed several feet away.

Now that L's wispy fingers were no longer being held in place, he pulled his hands away from the occult item and tried to recoil away from me. His moves were so desperate though that he only managed to trip over his book bag and land wide-eyed at my feet.

Perhaps I should have stopped there, but I was seething with rage, and, on the more logical side of things, I wanted to make it clear that this incident was not L's doing. I hate to admit this, as it shows a glaring view in my character, but scaring little children half to death is pretty fun (L is not to be included in that statement).

Seeing as I was still able to manipulate the cursor, I used this to my full advantage—It seems as if Ouija Boards are really accessible for the spirits of the dead to use.

_'A-L-L-Space-O-F-Space-Y-O-U-Space-W-I-L-L-Space-D-I-E-Space-D-I-E-Space-D-I-E'_

I was only on my second repeat of _'D-I-E'_ when all five of them ran away screaming across the playground.

A slightly twisted smirk on my lips and feeling quite satisfied with my performance, I turned towards L. What I saw immediately caused my face to fall. The messy-haired boy was shaking so hard he looked like he was about to fall apart, and his eyes were larger and shining with more fear than I thought to be humanly possible, his body frozen in place by it.

On instinct I made the mistake of moving a step closer to him. My actions causing the young boy to scream something that sounded like, "No!" and throw his book bag at me. The heavy bag hit my chest with a resounding "thwack!" and actually hurt quite a bit.

I stumbled back from the blow that I had been expecting to go right though me, then, as L had done earlier, tripped over the culprit bag and fell first on the pick-nick table and then through it.

"Wh-who are you?" he yelled in a panic. "What are you? What do you want with me?"

Noticing that L had been staring at my deformed right hand when he'd screamed, "What are you?" I quickly hid the red dripping thing behind my transparent back (not really sure how much good that did).

"I-I'm," I answered stuttering. I wasn't sure what to tell him. But whatever I did, I needed desperately for him to learn to trust me. _Trust me? Ha! What a joke. After what I was going to do to this poor child, how could I ever have the gall to ask him to trust me._ Still, what else was I supposed to do? "My name is..." _Wait...is it okay to give him my name? On the off chance he does learn to trust me, what if he completely does so in the future? If I can't change it...change myself becoming Kira...he'll die that much more easily..._

Impatience was beginning to creep up along side the terror on the boy's features.

Deciding I didn't have much more time to think about it, I took an easy out and stole something else from the detective I'd murdered. "My name is Ryuzaki and I...I'm here to protect you. I was sent for."

Suddenly, most if not all of the fear and uncertainty in his eyes vanished, the emotions being replaced by...was that hope?

"A-are you an angel?" He questioned slowly, as if it were too good to be true. I was surprised to find that back when he was younger—and speaking in English—he had a fairly strong English accent.

"N-no, not exactly." In reality, he couldn't be farther from the truth.

His face dampened slightly. "Well, then what are you?"

"I'm a...a Shinigami." I'm not sure why I said it, but the words just seemed to fit. Besides, what were the chances that he already knew Japanese as a second grader?

He looked puzzled. "Is that close to a guardian angel?" he asked after a good deal of thought.

His words were so fragile, as if his very last hopes hung on my answer. I couldn't disappoint him, I couldn't reveal all that I really was. "I guess you could say that."

His face brightened like a rising sun.

"I mean, kinda. We're...sort of fallen angels. We have to help someone down here on Earth for our sins to be forgiven. You needed help, so the Inoichinigami sent me. She told me I had to save you, and that is exactly what I intend to do."

Well at least I wasn't completely lying... Fudging the truth came almost too naturally to me. However, as good of a word twister I was, I never expected L to throw his tiny arms around me, silent tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Thank you," he whispered in such an honest, true, and completely trusting way that my broken heart somehow managed to shatter a little more.

I reached up with my left arm, wrapping it around the poor child, but I kept the blood stained right hand firmly behind me. I would hide it, and the horrible truth from him as long as I could. He didn't need to know. It was him, not me who needed saving; I was already too far gone for something like that.

_**~My Fallen Angel~**_

I hope you all enjoyed this addition. I really, really struggled getting the first part out on paper—seriously, I rewrote it more times than I can count—but I hope you are all quite pleased with the results. Be it yea or nae, I love to hear from you.

Sorry again for putting you through all these long waits, but such is my crazy life.

-Asiera

PS: On the off chance that this happens again, I have some amazing Death Note recommendations that you might find enjoyable to read in the mean time that could use your support: _**Quench the Flame**_ by Senshi'sBard (ongoing fic), _**Love Games **_by PapertownsL (ongoing fic), _**Furious Angels I: Nameless Here Forevermore**_ by Genius Detective L (ongoing fic), _**Asylum**_ and _**Silence**_ by Bahari (ongoing series), _**Friend or Foe**_ and_** Friend or Flame **_by Spotofpaint, and _**Caveat Emptor **_by Tierfal.


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